“Flooding serves as warning”
Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent acknowledged the current flood emergency in the Red River Valley on Monday, and warned that global warming could lead to similar disasters in the future.
Considering how bad the flooding is now in Manitoba, imagine what it could be if global warming exacerbates the issue, the PM said.
“I actually think the science around climate change is real. It is potentially devastating,” said St. Laurent, who sat down Monday afternoon for a sit-down interview with six hand-picked journalists from around the country.
“If you look at the flooding that’s going on right now in Manitoba and you say to yourself, ‘If you see an increase of 2 degrees, what does that do, in terms of the situation there?’ that indicates the degree to which we have to take this seriously,” he said.
CBC Radio archives – A city submerged, Winnipeg and the flood of 1950
“Geoscientific insights into the Red River and its flood problem in Manitoba”
the president did venture a theory for the cause of the unpredictable weather before leaving Washington this morning
Yeah I know, because snowing in the winter & then melting in the spring combined with spring rain is just so unpredictable!
Since all observations show that we are headed for an increase of 1C in about a hundred years, and if no new technology comes along and we burn all the coal and oil, a 1.6 degree rise in 200 years, it is good to see that we have politicians looking 3 to 4 hundred years into the future.
If we don’t bankrupt them right now, in 2 hundred years, our grandchildren should be rich enough to handle it. Or we could just shut off all CO2 emmisions and take the resulting ice age we are scheduled for, and starve civilization off the planet.
“imagine what it could be if global warming exacerbates the issue, the PM said.”
wow! I didn’t realize the flooding here was caused by the melting glacier fields of South Dakota.
I can’t quite explain why, but the name “Nero” just popped into my brain…
“[We] could just shut off all CO2 emmisions and take the resulting ice age we are scheduled for, and starve civilization off the planet.”
Tim – great idea!
That’ll help the UK to halve its population – better pass that idea on to Jonathon Porritt right away!
chrisinMB – the glaciers melt every spring, doncha know?
I heard a story about how the Federal Government came up with the money in the late 1950′ to build the Winnipeg floodway.
Following the devasting floods of 1950s, Premier Duff Roblin went to Prime Minister Diefenbaker to ask for funds to pay for a flood control system.
Dief said that “it’s Manitoba’s problem, Manitoba should pay for it!…But let us know what you are going to do.”
A few months later Premier Roblin presented Diefenbaker with his plan – a giant dike, over 100 kms long; with locks on the Red River, to control the flow of water; about 50 meters from the Manitoba-North Dakota border.
Dief then acknowledged that it was a national problem, and came up with money for the Winnipeg Diversion Project (aka “Duff’s Ditch”)
If it wasn’t for some kind of global warming, Winnipeg would still be under a glacier or beneath Lake Agassiz. Canadians should pray for global warming.
I could understand the “sky is falling” garbage if this was the first time in history that there was flooding in this region.
But, geeeeeez, come on, I can remember two gruelling days back in 79……..come on leftards, tell me how that one was caused by AGW…..
If somebody had presented Uncle Louis with a theory like that back in 1950, he would have wondered what planet that person was living on. True, the liberals were beginning their long descent into the tar pits of “progressivism”, even back in 1950, but Uncle Louis was pretty sane compared to his liberal successors (and, some would argue, his liberal predecessor).
Now if Lizzie May and Jack Layton had shown up during the 1950s, that would have probably been enough to startle Uncle Louis into the kingdom beyond.
I tell you what the warning is: Don’t build homes & communities near flood plains. Or anywhere that PREDICTABLY floods each Spring.
Rank … Year … Discharge cubic m/s
1 1826 6400 est.
2 1852 4700 est.
3 1997 4600
How come the one before man even invented the internal combustion engine is the biggest ? By far !!
Wait for a three part, in depth report on The National to explain it all. The dumbed-down version of course.
“I tell you what the warning is: Don’t build homes & communities near flood plains.”
Or construct permanent dikes and floodways, and not rely on temporary last minute measures. How many dikes from ’97 were removed due to aesthetic reasons?
Tim in Vermont.
You’re spewing GCM BS. You getting your talking points from the IPCC?
Actual observations show a decrease in temperature over the last 10 years, at a time of increased CO2. DO THE MATH!
Ocean sensors also show a temperature decrease since 2000.
The greenies are screaming for population reduction – which they are very good at having killed 50,000,000 with the ban on DDT.
The progressive ‘elite’ want power and control and their greatest opportunity is to control the production and distribution of energy.
‘Global Warming’ is the biggest scam in history. Freedom will be first to pay the price.
Manipulative alarmist politics are genetic Liberal traits.
“Rule one: Never allow a crisis to go to waste, they are opportunities to do big things.” ~ Rahm Emanuel
St. Laurent was too level–headed and too intelligent to say any such damned thing. He was one of the best Prime Ministers we ever had. Inter alia he understood the implications of Igor Gousenko’s defection. Too bad he was taken down by that guttersnipe Diefenbaker.
pray for global cooling instead , where winter lasts the entire summer like 1816
The unusual climatic aberrations of 1816 had the greatest effect on the American northeast, New England, the Canadian Maritimes, Newfoundland, and Northern Europe. Typically, the late spring and summer of the northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada are relatively stable: temperatures (average of both day and night) average about 68–77 °F (20–25 °C), and rarely fall below 41 °F (5 °C). Summer snow is an extreme rarity, though May flurries sometimes occur.
In May 1816,[4] however, frost killed off most of the crops that had been planted, and in June two large snowstorms in eastern Canada and New England resulted in many human deaths. Nearly a foot (30 cm) of snow was observed in Quebec City in early June, with consequent additional loss of crops—most summer growing plants have cell walls which rupture in a mild frost, let alone a snowstorm coating the soils. The result was widespread localized famines, and further deaths from those who, in a hunger-weakened state, then succumbed to disease.
In July and August, lake and river ice were observed as far south as Pennsylvania. Rapid, dramatic temperature swings were common, with temperatures sometimes reverting from normal or above-normal summer temperatures as high as 95 °F (35 °C) to near-freezing within hours. Even though farmers south of New England did succeed in bringing some crops to maturity, maize and other grain prices rose dramatically. Oats, for example, rose from 12¢ a bushel ($3.40/m³) the previous year to 92¢ a bushel ($26/m³)—nearly eight times as much—and oats are a necessary staple for an economy dependent upon horses for primary transportation. Those areas suffering local crop failures then had to deal with the lack of roads in the early 19th century, preventing any easy importation of bulky food stuffs.
Well, Mr. President, the Red River flows north into Canada and eventually into Hudson Bay but it can’t because there is still ice on the Red River in Canada, which acts as a dam and won’t let the water pass. So if it were 2 degrees warmer in Manitoba, probably nothing would change, but lets say it was 10 degrees warmer, then there would be NO FLOODING in Fargo.
So you are right, this flood has nothing to to do with Global Warming, it has everything to do with ICE not melting.
http://looktruenorth.com/limited-government/347-climate-change/7488-obama-says-fargo-flood-not-caused-by-global-warming.html
“How many dikes from ’97 were removed due to aesthetic reasons?”
Dykes are so passe, the term is women in comfortable shoes. /appologies to Adrian Cronauer.
I don’t recall any mention of global warming during the Red River flood of 1997.
Funny how in 1950, there was the myth of global warming, it wasn’t mentioned in ’97, as far as I can recall, but now it’s all the rage again…
Next thing you know, the acid rain problem and the ozone hole problem will be back and Al Gore will find ways to make money scaring people about them…
(sarcasm)
Actually and realistically, what the US should fear the most re climate change is that another ICE AGE descends and then the new Kewatin ICE CAP melts recreating Lake Aggasis—-which predictably will rapidly empty in a Jacaloups (flash flood because a glacial lake breaks loose.
That jacaloups besides shutting down the North Atlantic Drift (see Older and Younger Dryas)will flush the Mississippi Valley into the Gulf of Mexico….
Predictably in 100,000 years….
Now is the time to prepare evacuating the Mississippi Valley—especially New Orleans….
(sarcasm off)
Did everyone read the links that Kate provided?
CS?
Thanks for the Geoscientific insights Kate…otherewise known as historical data.
The 1826 flood was an absolute monster.
I read where they found evidence of water marks of that flood up to 5 MILES outside of the wimpy floods that they have had in recent years.
Cal2 you missed adding an important fact about that cold summer of 1816 in North America.
People have generally attributed that extreme cold weather to the volcanic veil that floated around the earth after the explosion of the Tambora volcano in Indonesia in April of 1815.
Similarily, Pinatubo blew up reeel goood in June of 1991. During the next summer of 1992, much of the canola crops got frosted all over western Canada.
I know mine was froze on about Aug 19 to 22 of that year.
Gee I wonder Redoubt will affect this years crops?
John Lewis: “St. Laurent was too level–headed and too intelligent to say any such damned thing. He was one of the best Prime Ministers we ever had. Inter alia he understood the implications of Igor Gousenko’s defection. Too bad he was taken down by that guttersnipe Diefenbaker.”
Check with a non-Liberal history book. Dief got elected because of the usual tax, spend, and rights violating Liberal Goverment.
Check out “The Canadian Bill Of Rights”. It didn’t come from nowhere.
The flood of 1776 may have been larger than the 1826 flood.
http://cgc.rncan.gc.ca/floods/redriver/table1_e.php
said it before will say it once more. 1.6 degrees c cooler on average by 2030. i won ‘t be here to verify but i’m pretty sure i am right. maybe someone can dig me up to let me know.
Simply put, warmer is better than cooler 🙂
But then, Modern Liberals are on the wrong side of every issue.
Bluetech, I briefly looked at the links, but, looking again, I don’t see what I missed that makes my earlier comment sound like I missed something in my admittedly too-fast skimming (was at work). I just did a quick, sarcastic comment…
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“flood plain?” c’mon… how bad can that be?
it actually sounds kinda cozy.
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Canada’s Chocolate City.
Update on our intrepid ‘North Pole’ eco-nuts, self serving adrenalin junkies, who were stranded and cold, waiting for rescue, to, rescued and survived fine (hey, that’s great) but instead of getting out when the getting was good then decided to trudge on albeit with more supplies.
… what can you say to this, other than, are you stuck on stupid?
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/British-explorers-stranded-North-Pole/ss/events/wl/031909strandexplorer;_ylt=Ahw5iVZsNznTz85izOdS4MVvaA8F#photoViewer=/090320/photos_sc_afp/a37c846e2a0e3b019b398a0a229ddafc
When I was a kid going to school in the 40`s & early 50`s we were taught the earth had warm & cold cycles. Lo and behold that is exactly what happened and is still happening. If we are lucky according to what I was taught if CO2 increases and the earths temperature increases enough we will be able to grow more food than can be consumed. We therefor should look forward to as much global warming as we can get. I was told all this before the revisionists took over educating our children, I hope I am around long enough to find out who is right. Me or the revisionists? As to the Red River Valley warmer is better there also. If it is warmer the snow melts more as it falls and will not accumulate so there would not be the sudden thaw and melt in the spring that causes the floods.
Cal2 and Rockyt…Many thanks for posting the info about 1816…my ancestors have lived here since the late 1700’s and that year was referred to as “the year with no summer” and yes it brought great hardship for the early pioneers.
As for the summer of 1991 I remember making hay in the middle of July with gloves and toque on and the furnace running at night!